Theatre Review: Cats at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre ★★★★☆

Cats is so silly! In the olden days, after a wild animal was slaughtered, the tribe's shaman would wear the skin and re-enact the hunt. As he became one with the beast, the people slowly understood the ways of nature. Cats is a similarly spiritual experience wherein we watch androgynous sylphs gyrate across the stage and believe (if only for a moment) that the human has become feline, all in service of better understanding the mysteries of our moggies. Does there need to be so many sequins? So much dry ice? Such a quantity of pyrotechnics? No, probably not. But it all adds up to a spectacular which will keep you grinning. The deficiencies in Cats are somewhat inherent. The scrapbook story doesn't make a lick of sense. It is more like a variety show than musical theatre. The lyrics are, at times, utterly asinine. The music soars, until someone starts playing what sounds like a genuine 1980s Casio keyboard - and all you can hear is squelch. But then Gary Wilmot (!!!) comes on as Gus and…